BANGALORE: At a sparkling evening lit up with crackers, Shah Rukh Khan told the teeming thousands, "Naan nin jathe madbeku (let's do it together)." When the crowd roared, he added with a twinkle: "OK, OK. I know this is a family programme." The much-awaited 'Temptations 2005' began with this cracker of sorts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. And to the crowd's relief, there was no rain to water down their spirits. Item numbers, box-office blockbusters and songs that families sing by rote, were on offering. To step up the tempo, Bollywood stars Zayed Khan and Lara Dutta gyrated to chart-topping numbers by Raghav — the balle balle thumping Aaja nachale. While Zayed chorused a predictable — I luv you Bangalore — Lara Dutta said, "This is the first time my parents are sitting in the audience; this is my hometown." Show-choreographer Ganesh Hegde crooned the breezy Bheege hont tere and then exhorted the audience to join in. Airlifted from somewhere, the star of the night — SRK — emerged and boomed — "You've come back for the show, thank you. This is my mother's city, my childhood city. I was too young to go to pubs then, I could check it out now." A pair of blue jeans, white vest, skin glistening in a chaiyya chaiyya train-load of sweat, the superstar did numbers from films like Main hoon na, Kal ho na ho, Dil se. Their pet peeve was that they couldn't see him in person. Maybe you'd run into him at a pub on Monday! Rani from a box? Not quite, even though city-based magician Ramesh tried to do the same. Promising a "ravishing Rani Mukherjee" from the magician's box, he got out a scrawny middle-aged man! The real Rani came later, to the accompaniment of Kuch kuch hota hain, and other chart-busters. Gateway to the temptation: ''We've paid Rs 1 lakh, please let us in," pleaded accounts executive Preeti Khanna who had got her elderly parents for the show. "No, there is a stampede, we can't let you in," maintained organisers Sanghamitra Foundation and Ginger Networks. "We have to pay a hefty sum, wait for hours and then get treated like dogs," ranted marketing executive Rajesh Nair. A huge melee at every entrance, more so at the hefty-tagged Rs 10,000, chaos reigned supreme as the wannabe audience tried wielding power — "I'm related to the main organiser, please let me in"; "I'm going to call the minister if you don't let me in." View from the gallery: Is that shining white speck SRK, wondered many at the gallery seats. Maybe it is him, look everybody is screaming... they reconciled, before adding to the crescendo of — Shaaah Ruuukkkkh, we love you.
Rashmi Yadav
Karthik Subramaniam